It is known in the prior art to provide lightweight fabrics which are resistant to abrasion, flame, mildew, and ultra-violet degradation. Fabrics having these properties and weighing less than one (1) pound per square yard have been satisfactorily used in military tents.
See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,594,286 issued June 10, 1986, to Graniteville Company of Graniteville, S.C., upon application of James M. McKinney and John G. Hodson for COATED FABRIC. The coated fabric of that patent comprises a substrate of essentially untwisted continuous multifilament synthetic yarns tightly woven into a fabric which is permeated with a liquid coating containing flame retardant chemicals, a polymeric binder, and a thermosetting blocked urethane prepolymer applied to the woven substrate and cured by heat to provide a product having the requisite properties of tear resistance, abrasion resistance, water repellance and flame retardance for use as military tents, and weighing about 13 ounces per square yard. The fabric of the present invention has the same functional properties, but weighs less than half as much--only about 6.3 ounces per square yard.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,594,286 discloses as prior art, beginning in Column 1, line 11, an unpatented coated tent fabric manufactured by Graniteville Company of Graniteville, S.C. under its Product Code 990081. That fabtric comprises a polyester substrate impregnated with a coating of polyvinyl chloride polymer, chlorinated paraffin (40 percent chlorine), chlorinated paraffin (70% chlorine), 2-ethylhexyl diphenyl phosphate plastisizer, antimony trioxide, zinc oxide, decabromodiphenyloxide, zirconium wax complex, epoxy resin, barium-cadmium, fumed silica and pigments. Graniteville's said Product Code 990081 coated fabric weighs about thirteen (13) ounces per square yard, and required better film integrity abrasion and flake resistance for an improved product life.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,284,682 issued Aug. 18, 1981 for HEAT SEALABLE, FLAME AND ABRASION RESISTANT COATED FABRIC upon application of Richard P. Tschirch, et al. discloses a coated nylon fabric weighing 7-1/2 ounces per square yard and coated on both sides with the same solution of thermoplastic polyester-polyurethane polymer mixed with decabromodiphenyloxide, antimony oxide and amonium polyphosphate. These mixtures were dissolved in tetrahydrofuran to form a solution containing about 40% solids. The solutions of polymer/flame retardant additive were cast into films on silicon release paper and the solvent evaporated. These films were then heat bonded to both sides of 0.9 ounce woven nylon fabric. A film of the same solution was also bonded to only one side of 2.2 ounce woven nylon fabric giving a total weight of 5 to 5-1/2 ounces and to only one side of 0.9 ounce woven nylon fabric giving a total weight of 4-1/2 ounces. The fabrics of U.S. Pat. No. 4,284,682 were designed for the construction of clothing and containers for space exploration, but they lack the overall properties required for military tent fabrics.